The Arizona sentinel., 1887-01-15
CHINA'S CAPITAL.
Some of the Strange Sights to be Seen il
 the Streets of PeIin.

some or the Strange Sights to be Seen in
 the Streets of Pekin.
 From the walls the city of Pekin looks its best, in fact quite different from what it really is. There you are too far away to see the filthy streets, the many dogs which go about with torn ears, the pools of stagnant water, and all the unpleasant sights which it is impossible to avoid on closer inspec- ton. You only see here the fine trees planted in the court-yards of all the better houses and in the open spaces of the Tartar city, the quaint gate towers, the fine cathedrals, and the dark back ground of the western hills, behind which the great red sun dips suddenly, leaving the cloudless sky still compar- atively clear and bright notwithstand- ing his absence. The walls are sixty or seventy feet high, ending in a crenulat- ed parapet, and are as broad as an aver age carriage-way. They are, however so oyergrown with bramble that in some places it is difficult for two people to walk abreast on them. The gates are numerous, and beside each small wicket is placed, through which you pass to get on the top of the walls. Over the gate is the tower shaped like three or four immense pigeon boxes placed one upon the other, and each smaller than the one below it. These are roofed with the peculiar Chi nese tiles such as may be observed in pictures; long closed-up pipes alternate with horizontally ribbed tile, aud look extremely picturesque. The roads out side Pekin are bad. Inside matters are still worse. In addition to all the miseries usually attendant on crowded thOroughfares, one gets jumbled up among innumerable camels, ponies, carts and like impediments to prog ress, all of which seem bound for some place in an opposite direction to which you are going. A Pekin cart is something to be experienced, and not merely described, if justice be done to it. It is drawn by a most respectable mule, directed by not very respectable driver. The arched roof is covered with dark blue cotton, except in rainy weather, when oil cloth is used. It is doubtless unnecessary to say that springs are conspicuous by their ab- seneca remark which would apply with equal force to most of the remain ing resources of civilization in the city. A thin, hard mat is spread on the floor, and on this you squat as best you can. 1 tried tailor fashion, but afterward found it better to sit quite across the cart, with my back propped up against one side. The attitude is not very comfortable, and I have not heard that it is considered graceful, but, all things considered, it is perhaps the least objectionable position. Its draw backs are experienced when a rut a foot deep is crossed, or when one of the flags with which some of the streets are paved is missing. Two or three feet of drop is nothing to the mule or its driver, but to the barbarian inside it is inconvenient. The awning extends for ward so far as the mules head, and pro- tects you from the fierce rays of the sun. When the road is bad the driver walks. and when it is good--that is, when it is not excessively bad--he hops up in front, and shuts you up ill yer itable oven.-Interior.